Today, The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, chaired the first meeting of the Redesigning Development Finance Initiative (RDFI) Steering Committee, a joint global project between the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC).

The RDFI brings together development finance institutions, governments, providers of official development assistance, foundations and private sector investors. Its goal is to expand the pool of foreign and domestic capital available for economic and social development in developing countries, including in such sectors as infrastructure, agriculture and energy. The initial focus will be on mobilizing and enabling private investment in Africa.

“Accelerating private sector-led, sustainable economic growth is our most effective tool to eradicate poverty around the world. We need to look at new approaches to mobilizing investment for development,” said Minister Paradis. “Through this initiative, Canada will use its world-leading expertise in innovative financing to help developing countries grow their economies more sustainably, manage their resources more responsibly, and build tomorrow’s markets for trade and investment.”

The RDFI Steering Committee aims to promote a more systematic approach to testing and scaling up financial innovations that accelerate progress toward development objectives by blending capital from philanthropists, private and commercial investors, and development institutions. Today’s meeting focused on the initiative’s expected outcomes and a plan of action for achieving them in the lead-up to the next International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 2015, including key milestones such as the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January.

Quick Facts

The RDFI was launched in Abuja, Nigeria, on May 7, 2014, at the WEF Regional Meeting on Africa. It aims to assist developing countries in accelerating social and economic progress by enabling increased private sector financing.

Before being named Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Christian Paradis, Chair of the RDFI Steering Committee, held the economic portfolios of Industry and Natural Resources, and served as Minister of State (Agriculture).